These two terms seem to be all the rage with critics right now. But do they mean anything?
GRAPHITE
Graphite in fact has no smell. (I checked a week or so ago, sniffing some powdered graphite.) In some cases it seems to be a sloppy allusion to pencils, which smell like cedar – because they are made of cedar. Cedar is also considered the best wood for cigar boxes. Cedar/cigar box is a scent you commonly find in red Bordeaux. Graphite isn’t.
And I have no idea what someone’s talking about when they use graphite to describe California pinots, Rhones, Brunellos and Burgundies, where cedar isn’t typical.
2009 Guigal Hermitage Rouge
Dunnuck, WA (93+ points): "A big, massive and rich effort that needs to be forgotten for 4-5 years, the inky colored 2009 Hermitage reveals terrific aromatics of cassis, blackberry, smoked herbs, graphite and seared meats.’’
[Ed’s note: Smoked herbs??]
Martin, WA (94-96 points): "The 2016 Malescot-St-Exupery has an opulent, lavish and pure bouquet with billowing black cherry and blueberry fruit, a touch of mint and graphite emerging with time.”
2011 Dominique Lafon Beaune Epenottes
Sanderson, WS (91 points): “Featuring expressive aromas and flavors, this red delivers black cherry, currant, rhubarb, graphite and loam notes. Linear in profile, with dense tannins guarding the finish for now.”
[Ed’s note: Does rhubarb have an aroma? Perhaps, but I don’t think it has much raw, and cooked I think what you smell is usually the other fruits combined with it (e.g., strawberries), or some caramelized sugar.]
2013 Varner Pinot Noir Picnic Block Santa Cruz
Galloni, Vinous (92 points): "Sweet dark cherry, menthol, pine, licorice and dark spices are all infused in the 2013 Pinot Noir Picnic Block. Deep and ample on the palate, the Picnic shows the more virile, masculine side of Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir. This is an especially dense, meaty Pinot Noir. Graphite, black pepper, game, smoke and scorched earth add the closing shades of nuance.”
[Ed’s note: What does scorched earth smell like? That’s another term that’s a head-scratcher for me.]
2010 Costanti Brunello di Montalcino
Galloni (97 points): “tunning. Dark, powerful and mysterious in the glass, the 2010 captivates all the senses with its breathtaking beauty and layered, multi-dimensional personality. Lavender, violets, savory herbs, smoke, plums and graphite flow through to the rich, explosive finish. There is a prism-like sense of transparency allied to pure power in the 2010 that is impossible to miss. "
Galloni, Vinous (93 points): “The 2014 [Chappelet] Cabernet Sauvignon Signature is fabulous. A host of graphite, smoke, licorice, lavender, crème de cassis and exotic spice give the wine its characteristic savory and mineral-drenched flavors.”
[Ed’s note: “Smoke, licorice, lavender, crème de cassis and exotic spice” don’t seem at all “mineral-drenched.”]
SALINITY/SALINE
Salinity, meanwhile, is the new minerality: a term that might once have had some meaning as applied to wine but has not been debased completely as it’s applied to any of a wide range of wines.
I have a good idea of what salinity is in some whites that have solid acidity. There can be something salty about the finish in those wines. But I have a hard time imagining a salty Bordeaux, Burgundy or nerello mascalese.
Would these writers dare to call the wines slightly salty? I think that might sound daft, but “salinity” has a kind of expert ring about it – a pseudo precision.
Martin, WA (92-94 points): "The 2016 Phelan-Segur has a really quite superb bouquet, quite Pauillac-like in style with graphite-infused black fruit, subtle tertiary notes and later, pressed flowers. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. There is plenty of tobacco-infused black fruit here, crisp and focused with a lovely salinity on the finish that lingers in the mouth.
Galloni, Vinous (91-94 points): "The 2016 Canon is a wine of pure sophistication and polish. A rush of red cherry, plum, mint, rose petal and blood orange gives the 2016 its sexy, racy personality. Underlying veins of minerality and salinity provide finesse and persistence.”
2013 Humbert Freres Gevrey Chambertin Poissenots
Tanzer, Vinous (90-93 points): "Urgent aromas of crushed black berries and licorice pastille complicated by a saline element. Rocky and taut in the mouth, with the crushed black fruit flavors currently hardened by the wine’s firm acidity and tannic spine.”
2012 Lignier-Michelot Morey St. Denis En Rue de Vergy
Tanzer, Vinous (89-92 points): “Good bright red. Very pure, perfumed aromas of cherry, raspberry, brown spices and flowers. Sweet, lush and lightly saline; a fruit bomb for Morey, with hints of menthol and minerals adding complexity. Finishes with suave, fine-grained tannins and very good spicy persistence.”
[Ed’s note: I cannot imagine a saline fruit bomb.]
2014 Passopisciaro Passorosso Etna Rosso
D’Agata, Vinous (97 points): “Bright red-ruby. The captivating nose combines strawberry, raspberry, minerals, violet and flint aromas. Creamy-sweet but amazingly light on its feet, offering palate-staining, perfumed flavors of soft red berries, ripe red cherry, vanilla, aromatic herbs and crushed rock. Rich, ripe and suave, but displays a penetrating, saline and energetic quality that gives this beauty a three-dimensional mouthfeel and a light-on-its-feet quality.
[Ed’s note: Wow! This must be doubly light on its feet!]